


collect the moments one by one

by myownremedy



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types, Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Curtain Fic, Established Relationship, Fluff, Kid Fic, Multi, Polyamory, Slice of Life, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-20
Updated: 2016-11-20
Packaged: 2018-08-29 07:52:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8481496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myownremedy/pseuds/myownremedy
Summary: “Is that –?” Cosette hears Marius say to himself, unknowingly echoing what she had said. A moment later Marius is at the kitchen doorway, staring at Courfeyrac in disbelief.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [eirenical (chibi1723)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chibi1723/gifts).



> for eirenical for the les mis winter hols exchange. eirenical, i tried to do a canon era ot3 where cosette and marius are married and courf is a uncle to their kids but it ended up being a modern era. i hope you like it anyway <3  
> many many thanks to jill, kelcee, mel, and alex <3 <3 <3, and to the mods for running this exchange and being so patient with me! title is from Mushaboom by Feist  
> notes:  
> \- Cosette and Marius are married and live in Paris; Courf works at the UN in NYC.  
> \- Jean is a five year old boy and named for Jean Valjean  
> \- Max aka Maxine is a one year old girl and named for Lamarque (Jean Maximilien)

Taking a five year old and a toddler grocery shopping is always an adventure, especially on a Saturday when the market is crowded. Cosette is only too happy to return home. Between holding Max on her hip, holding the groceries in her other hand, and Jean running around pretending to be an airplane, it takes Cosette a minute to notice the luggage and very stylish men’s brogues in the entry way. Cosette knows her husband, and she knows Marius doesn’t have any shoes that look like that.

“Is that - ?” Cosette asks Max, toeing off her own shoes. Max babbles back cheerfully in her brand of baby gibberish. Having only just turned one, Max hasn’t spoken her first word yet, but Cosette has a feeling that will happen any moment now.

Jean, running ahead to the kitchen, starts yelling. “UNCLE COURF!”

“Oh, Uncle Courfeyrac is here!” Cosette tells Max, almost sing-song. “Yes, yes he is! Can you say Uncle? Maybe Unc?” Cosette hurries to follow Jean towards the kitchen, unable to hide her eagerness. Sure enough Courfeyrac is there, bending down to hug Jean.

“Courf.” Cosette says when he straightens, smiling hugely. “I didn’t know you were coming!”

“Surprise!” Courfeyrac says, wrapping her and Max up in his arms. “How are my favorite girls?”

“Better now that you’re here.” Cosette mumbles into his chest. They separate and she stands on her tiptoes to kiss the corner of his mouth. “Does Marius know you’re here?”

“No.” Courfeyrac takes Max from her and presses a kiss to Max’s black, curly hair. “I wanted to surprise the two of you. I can’t stay very long; I have to head back to New York soon. I hope it’s okay –”

“– Of course it’s okay you’re here!” Cosette interrupts him as she unpacks the groceries. “You’re always welcome here.”

“Uncle Courf, when are you going to come live with us?” Jean asks as he sits at the counter and watches Cosette put away the food.

“I’ll ask my boss.” Courfeyrac says seriously to Jean. “I miss you guys all the time.”

When Cosette looks up to find Courfeyrac smiling at her and Cosette smiles back, warmth flooding her chest.

“We miss you too!” Jean verges on whining. “Move back here.”

“Jean.” Cosette interrupts smoothly. “Leftover roast for dinner sound alright?” While Jean is predictably distracted by the prospect of food, Cosette looks at Courfeyrac again and sees that Max has fallen asleep against his chest. “Are you hungry, Courf?”

“Is there enough roast left for me to have some?” Courfeyrac asks with huge, hopeful eyes.

“Sure thing.” Cosette says, laughing. “Marius is going to be thrilled.” She adds. “He had to go to his publisher’s office to discuss the translation work they have him doing, but he’ll be home soon.”

“Is he still liking being a stay at home dad?” Courfeyrac asks and Cosette laughs again.

“As far as I know.” She says. “He shouldn’t – oh.” She can hear the front door being unlocked. “Speak of the devil.”

“Cosette? Jean?” Marius calls over what sounds like him fighting with his shoes. “Max?” He adds, like Max is going to rattle off a sentence.

Shooting a frankly devastating smile at her, Courfeyrac yells “In here!”

There’s a pause. “Is that –?” Cosette hears Marius say to himself, unknowingly echoing what she had said. A moment later Marius appears at the kitchen doorway, staring at Courfeyrac in disbelief.

“Surprise!” Courfeyrac says, waving with the hand not holding Max. “I thought I’d – mmpf!” He grunts as Marius almost tackles him on his free side.

“You’re here! You’re here! Wait, why are you here?” Marius draws back to peer at Courfeyrac. Cosette knows, because she knows her husband, that Marius is carefully taking stock of Courfeyrac and making sure nothing is wrong.

“My stint in the Czech Republic wrapped up and they gave me a week of vacation before I have to be back in New York, so I thought I’d come back here – mmpf.” Marius is hugging Courfeyrac again.

“I missed you.” Cosette hears Marius murmur as she sticks the container of left over roast in the microwave. “So much.”

“Jean already asked me when I’m moving back.” Courfeyrac jokes. “Like father like son.”

Cosette half expects Marius to say something but after a second he shakes his head. “And what did Max say, hm?”

“Oh god, is she talking?!” Courfeyrac demands, startled.

“No.” Cosette laughs, unable to stop herself. “Not yet, anyway, but I have a feeling it’s right around the corner.”

“She’s gotten so _big_.” Courfeyrac says, stroking a large hand down her back.

The microwave dings. “Dinner is ready!” Cosette says unnecessarily, half to stop Courfeyrac from waxing on about how Max is growing up. Max is her _baby_.

“Oh.” Marius says hopefully.

“Yes, there’s enough for you.” Cosette says, laughing. Marius tears himself from Courfeyrac’s side to kiss her on the cheek and wrap her up in a hug. They sway side to side for a minute, Cosette’s nose tucked against his throat.

“Gross.” Jean says.

“You said it.” Courfeyrac says. Cosette hears rather than sees them high five.

 

After dinner Cosette abandons the dishes in the sink for Marius and goes to play board games with Courfeyrac and Jean. Max is happy enough chewing on a teething ring in Cosette’s lap. Before long it’s bedtime for both kids. Cosette puts Max down while Marius helps Jean get ready for bed, instructing Courfeyrac not to help because he’ll only excite Jean instead of calm him down. Marius shouldn’t have worried; he and Jean have their bedtime routine down to a t.

Cosette hasn’t even made it all the way down the stairs before Courfeyrac is backing her up against the wall, his mouth hot on hers, his hands on her waist.

“I – missed you.” He mutters between kisses, one hand skimming over a breast. Cosette gasps into his mouth, heat filling her stomach. Courfeyrac always makes her weak in the knees. Maybe it’s the illicit thrill of it, the fact that he’s not her husband but something else. Maybe it’s the fact she can feel Marius watching them. Maybe it’s the fact that if the kids catch them doing this it’s going to be a very awkward conversation.

Maybe they should wait until the kids been asleep for a while. But Cosette can’t wait. Courfeyrac has been gone for months. She knows Courfeyrac is just as eager as she is because he’s already unbuttoning her blouse.

“Not – not here.” Cosette manages. She doesn’t want to have sex on the stairs. “Come upstairs?”

They practically sneak past Jean and Max’s rooms, her and Courfeyrac and Marius all hand in hand, Cosette’s blouse half unbuttoned. As soon as the door to the master bedroom is shut Courfeyrac resumes unbuttoning Cosette’s blouse; she starts unbuttoning his shirt. Marius stands behind her and starts kissing the back of her neck, his stubble scraping gently against her skin. He grinds his front into her ass and she rubs back against him, hissing as Courfeyrac cups one lace covered breast.

It’s frantic, the way they move together, Cosette bracketed by Courfeyrac and Marius, who kiss one another deeply, almost hungrily. They end up on the bed, Courfeyrac sinking into her with his thumb on her clit. She doesn’t need foreplay, not when he’s been gone four months, and she knows Marius is fucking into his fist behind her. She can imagine the exact face he’s making, the way he’s watching her and Courfeyrac, half possessive, half wondrous.

When she comes she muffles her moan against Courfeyrac’s collarbone. He follows her over the edge a few moments later, face screwed up and mouth sagging open, and then she hears the gasping whine that means Marius is coming also.

They’ve gotten better at doing this, she thinks as Courfeyrac pants on top of her, pressing his lips to her shoulder tenderly. It’s taken almost a decade but they’re quite good at sex now.

“I missed you.” Courfeyrac whispers into the silence of their bedroom. Outside, Paris bustles with traffic and nightlife, the crescent moon visible through the open window, but inside it’s just the three of them tangled up in each other.

“We missed you too.” Marius sighs from somewhere behind Cosette. He’s stroking her lark tattoo absentmindedly, something he does almost every night. She’s half convinced he’ll worry the tattoo from her skin.

There’s a pause, long enough that Cosette thinks they’ll all drift off to sleep, Courfeyrac blanketing her with his body. Then he rolls off of her and props himself up on one elbow. “I actually have something to talk to you guys about.” He says, looking at both of them with the level, steady warmth that first drew both of them to his side.

Marius’s hand, warm on her ribs, stops for a moment. She covers her hand with his, squeezing gently. _He’s not going to leave_ , she tells him silently, knowing he’ll understand.

“There’s a job opening here, in Paris. I’d be working with refugees. It would be an amazing opportunity, but…” Courfeyrac trails off for a minute, adam’s apple bobbing as he swallows nervously. “It would be different. I don’t know how it would affect this. How it would affect us.”

Cosette glances at Marius and sees the same hunger she feels on his face, hunger for more of Courfeyrac – whatever he’ll give, they’ll take. She just doesn’t know if he knows this.

She still remembers bullying Marius into telling her how he felt about Courfeyrac and how scared she had been when she suggested that they consider dating Courfeyrac together. Marius had been in love with Courfeyrac already, which she had known and respected, but the truth was it only took a few weeks before she was in love with him too. Courfeyrac was full of warmth and vitality and laughter and song. He made everyone around him better. These were all good, strong reasons; these were things that Cosette loved about him. But mostly she loved the way he made Marius smile, and the way he looked at her, and the way she felt when they were together: warm, sated, safe. Like nothing could go wrong ever again.

“Do you want the job?” Cosette asks.

“Yes.” Courfeyrac looks down at their yellow sheets, almost sheepish. “I want it a lot. It would be a lot of work and the pay would be shit but – I could make a difference, you know? I would be helping people.”

“We want you.” Marius says, thumb stroking along Cosette’s tattoo again. “You moving to Paris wouldn’t change that. We’d have to discuss boundaries, and what you want out of the relationship, but –”

“– Are you kidding? I’d move in with you if I could.” Courfeyrac interrupts. His ears flush red as he claps a hand over his mouth. “Oh.” He says, muffled. “I mean –”

“Then move in.” Cosette says, laying a hand on his hip. “I’m serious. We’d have to talk about it more but –”

“ – I haven’t even gotten the job yet.” Courfeyrac says, a little helplessly. “But if I do – if I do. We’ll talk about it, I promise.”

“That’s all we can ask.” Marius says, leaning across Cosette to kiss Courfeyrac gently. He almost yawns into the kiss, eyes fluttering shut. “Talk more tomorrow? M’tired.”

“Yeah.” Courfeyrac says, already scooting over so he’s not taking up half of the bed. It’s a wasted effort – he’ll be in the middle of the bed by 4 am come hell or high water, but Cosette appreciates the gesture.

 

*

 

When Cosette wakes up she’s alone in the bed and sunlight is streaming through the open window. She can hear Jean yelling excitedly and the murmur of deeper voices. When she wraps herself in her bathrobe and goes downstairs, she finds Marius feeding Max while Courfeyrac makes pancakes and talks to an exuberant Jean.

“You slept over!” Jean is saying excitedly. Cosette, leaning against the doorway, has the impression this isn’t the first time he’s said this. “Can you live with us and make pancakes every morning?”

“Oh, I understand now.” Courfeyrac says, brandishing a spatula at Jean teasingly. “You only want me for my pancakes.”

“Dad always burns them.” Jean wrinkles his nose.

“I do not!” Marius protests, trying to get Max to eat her cereal instead of throwing it on the floor. “Take that back!”

“Hi, Mommy!” Jean says, catching sight of Cosette leaning against the doorway. Marius and Courfeyrac both look up and smile at her and for a minute she’s so happy she’s dizzy with it.

“How did you sleep, sweetheart?” Cosette asks, picking Jean up and setting him on her hip. He smiles at her with the reckless vitality that small children have, that Gavroche still has.

“Good. Courfeyrac is making pancakes!”

“They’re done, actually.” Courfeyrac says, turning off the stove. “Come eat.”

Predictably, syrup gets all over Jean. Cosette knows she’ll find sticky handprints all over the kitchen later. She decides to ignore that in favor of concentrating on Courfeyrac’s pancakes, which are amazing.

“Here, go eat.” Courfeyrac says, tugging the spoon and the baby cereal out of Marius’s hands. “I’ll feed Max. Isn’t that right, baby girl? It’s your Uncle, Courfeyrac. Can you say Uncle? Unc-le?”

Max claps her hands and squeals as Courfeyrac tries to coax her into eating some cereal. “Uh, uh – Unc!” She giggles.

Marius chokes on a bite of pancakes. Cosette sets her fork down, staring at Max. Even Jean stops eating.

“Did she - ?” Marius whispers. Wide eyed, Courfeyrac stares down at Max.

“Good job, Max!” Cosette says, getting up and crossing over to the high chair. “Can you say it again? Can you say Unc-le?”

“Unc!” Max repeats, clapping her hands again. Cosette kisses her forehead.

“Now you have to stay.” Jean says, mouth full of pancakes.

Courfeyrac glances back at him, a rueful smile tugging on the corners of his mouth. “Yeah.” He says, slipping a hand into Cosette’s and reaching absently for Marius with the other one. Marius is already moving towards him, and fits under Courfeyrac’s arm like they were made for each other. “I guess I do.”

**Author's Note:**

> \- the internet told me the French do indeed use microwaves so...if they don't, i was lied too and i'm sorry  
> \- you decide who the biological father(s) of the kids are! this fic is Headcanon Friendly


End file.
